With the passage of time, you will find that each stage in your life has its own setting.
This Arabic adage considers that every human exists as a culmination of a series of personal experiences. Each of those experiences is defined by the memories associated with it and grounded in the settings of those moments. Joana Hadjithomas digs into her own memories, documented in letters she wrote to her best friend during Beirut’s civil war, as source material for her latest collaboration with her co-writer and co-director Khalil Joriege, Memory Box. While their project is grounded in Hadjithomas’ memories, its themes are universal and serve as an exploration of vulnerability and the permanence of memories.
The film centers on a Lebanese immigrant mother, Maia (Rim Turki/Manal Issa), and her relationship with her daughter Alex (Paloma Vauthier). On Christmas, Maia receives a mysterious package from a childhood friend that she refuses to open. This refusal is endorsed by her mother, who says the package will only bring pain. Alex, however, is overcome with curiosity and decides to secretly look through the package herself and discovers a box filled with photos and journal entries from her mother’s childhood. As Alex explores the contents of the box, she begins to piece together a portrait of her mother that was kept hidden from her. Prior to opening the box, Alex sees her mother as uptight and protective, a perception that starkly contrasts the Maia she finds in the box.
Maia’s adolescence takes place during the Lebanese Civil War and is heavily impacted by the conflict. However, between the explosions and deaths, Maia finds an escape from her teenage love interest, Raja (Hassan Akil/Rabih Mroue). Raja and Maia’s relationship is deftly juxtaposed against the backdrop of devastating conflict. Maia is able to find warmth with Raja, in stark contrast to the coldness of war illustrated by scenes of them kissing to a backdrop of rockets exploding, experiencing escapism through acts of youthful rebelliousness: motorcycle rides, cigarettes, and romances in movie theaters. Unfortunately, shortly after, a cascade of tragedies pushes Maia and her mother to leave Beirut and immigrate to Canada. In Canada, Maia buries her memories and with them, her youthful exuberance, turning herself into the more restrained version that Alex is familiar with.
The soul of Memory Box lies in communicating the deepest foundations of personal existence with loved ones and accepting that each memory shapes that existence. Opening up about memories and experiences is a form of vulnerability, and deep trust is necessary with close companions to divulge this information. It is a privilege to hear memories from others and to be able to share them; Memory Box confronts its audiences about communicating their own memories with their chosen communities.
While Hadjithomas and Joriege’s story is extremely personal, it is still universal. Maia’s story highlights how much of our personality is often tethered to environments and settings; without our homes, we are lost, turning us into completely different people. Maia and Alex’s relationship paints a vivid portrait of a family – a mother struggling to suppress her pain to appear strong to her daughter, and a daughter attempting to reconcile her guilt upon learning how young and free her mother used to be. Maia and Raja’s relationship captures the universality of the permanence of young love. While Raja and Maia are no longer present in each other’s lives, their memories are fundamental to their growth; their relationship was short-lived, yet intoxicating, and fleeting, yet grounding. Memory Box provides a deeper look into each of Maia’s memories, focusing on her relationships with her environment and the people in multiple phases of her life. Although each of these memories exists in the past, they remain to be rediscovered time and again.
Confronting and externalizing memories can be a challenging, but ultimately rewarding process. By sharing personal experiences with others, humans deepen their connections with loved ones and gain a greater understanding of themselves. Memory Box builds upon Hadjithomas and Joriege’s experiences, manufacturing a raw, yet absolutely magical testimony of memories, transmission, and the passage of time.
